Fan Theory Explains Why The Sand People Feared Obi-Wan So Much

Even decades after the original Star Wars trilogy was released, fans still hungrily devour any and all new information relating to George Lucas’ epic series. That’s a pretty clear testament to how great they still are.

And while the well of information has dried up a little and there are only so many complex details that can be spotted these days (primarily thanks to the scrutiny that fell on the films when George Lucas started messing with new editions of the films), that doesn’t mean fans aren’t adding to the films themselves.

The latest intriguing suggestion comes courtesy of a Reddit user who has offered a smart bit of explanation for one of the film’s most famous scenes – the first appearance of Obi-Wan Kenobi. When he arrives to save Luke from the Tusken Raiders, they flee in terror, presumably because they’ve encountered him before and know he means business.

But really, this new theory suggests it might be because of a case of mistaken identity:

“…They think he’s Anakin from AOTC. It used to be canon in a Star Wars novel that Anakin slaughtering the village of Tuskin Raiders turned him into a Sand People legend & they went as far as doing commemorative dance to the sounds of a lightsaber to appease him.Obi-Wan flashing a lightsaber at them sometime before he meets Luke for the first time (with the exact same color and hilt as the one that killed their people) would be enough for them to quickly run away and not f*ck with him.The noise he makes when he arrives is theater to fit with their legend of him being an evil spirit/horrible beast.”

Now that’s some clever deduction.

Still, it doesn’t explain why he made the erroneous claim that they’d be back and in greater number… Though, it may account for why that turned out to be a lie…